The Ability to See
by Ouha-chan
Summary: SasuSaku. There are certain things that a person can't see with just an eye ability... And what's this? The truth about Kakashi's book! Complete & Revised.


_**The Ability to See...** The Sharingan and the Byakkugan -- the bloodlines of the famous Uchiha and Hyuuga clans, and two of the greatest bloodline limits in the history of Konoha. Unfortunately for the prodigies that possess them, there are some things that a person can't see with just an eye ability... And what's this? The truth about Kakashi's book! Sasuke+Sakura, Neji+Tenten, and Kakashi+Kurenai._

---------- **Naruto Fan Fiction: The Ability to See** ----------

It had been a long day of training and only now was the team formerly known as #7 taking a break. Kakashi was reading, Naruto was rambling about something to Sasuke and Sakura, Sakura was calling him an idiot occasionally, and Sasuke was deep in thought. It was a fairly normal day for the most part. It was fairly normal, until...

"Say, have either of you guys ever wondered what it is that Kakashi-sensei's always reading?" Sakura asked suddenly, causing Naruto to blink and Sasuke to throw an inquisitive glance her way.

"Actually, I found out while training with Pervy Sennin." Naruto answered, and Sasuke looked over at Kakashi, a sudden stroke of curiosity catching him. It wasn't every day that he wondered about pointless things like what book his teacher was reading, but today was just one of those days when everything that could go wrong... did go wrong.

"What about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, looking over at the other member of the team. He seemed to be thinking about something rather deeply once again, he was acting like his normal self... aside from what he was thinking about. Upon noticing that their obsidian eyed teammate was staring at Hatake Kakashi himself, Sakura grinned knowingly and Naruto nudged him in the side. Sasuke turned to scowl at the blond haired imbecile, causing Naruto to cast him a sly look.

"You want to know, don't you Sasuke-teme?" he asked, causing the raven haired ninja to whack him over the head(which seemed to be a relatively common thing with Naruto). Naruto crossed his arms as he sat back on the ground, nodding sagely and looking almost contemplative. "Yep, you definitely want to know," he answered his own question. Sakura breathed a low sigh, before smiling.

"I know! Since training is over for today, why don't we spend the rest of the day trying to figure out what that book is about!" she suggested, and Sasuke seem to look at her almost disbelievingly before returning his eyes to their tardy teacher. "Come on, what can it hurt? Just for fun..."

"I have no interest in any such thing," he persisted before pushing himself up to a standing position and spinning around to walk off in the direction of the Uchiha part of town. Sakura held her hand aside her mouth and obtained that previous sly look Naruto had previously had.

"I know you wanna know -- come on, it could be fun! And what are you gonna do back there anyway? Sleep?" she pressed, and Sasuke breathed a reluctant sigh.

"Kakashi-sensei isn't deaf you know," he replied. Sakura glanced over at their teacher who seemed quite interested in his reading -- he wasn't paying a bit more attention then some man on another planet somewhere. Sasuke swallowed when he noticed his pink haired companion's suspicious look. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well?"

There was just no way he was going to agree to something so stupid...

-----

"Here we are." Sakura muttered; she and Sasuke were kneeled down in the bushes waiting for the white haired Jounin of subject to pass by.

"Hn." This was so stupid, so completely stupid. How had he let Sakura talk him into this again? For the life of him, he couldn't even remember. Had he been drugged or something?

"Kakashi-sensei will pass by here any minute now, and all we have to do is snatch away that book before he notices anything." Sakura instructed, causing Sasuke to bury his forehead in his right palm. This was never going to work -- Kakashi was far too good for it to work. What were they going to do anyway? Just jump him at the last possible second?

Still, the two of them waited... and waited... and waited some more...

But the ninja they were looking for didn't show his face(though he never technically _showed his face_, but either way).

Finally, Sasuke scowled. "How are you so sure he was coming this way?" he inquired. Sakura laughed somewhat sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously. Actually, she didn't really have any way to know. Sadly enough, Sasuke realized that very, very quickly. He sighed lowly and shook his head.

Just when they were about to assume that Sakura's masterful plan had failed, ready to give up and go home, a familiar Hatake came walking down the sidewalk beside where they remained concealed by the bushes. Sakura smiled victoriously and pointed. Preparing himself, Sasuke took his position, ready to leap out in that split second they would have...

... And he did just that, landing face-first on the ground in front of Kakashi. Without even noticing, Kakashi stepped on him, causing Sakura to flail her arms a bit as she jumped out of the bushes, ranting about something no one dared to try and decipher. Upon noticing her reaction, Kakashi blinked once in confusion before lowering his eye to see Sasuke sprawled on the ground under one of his feet. Sasuke looked up at him, that permanent frown of his ever present on his face.

A long, dead silence passed.

"... Hm? Didn't see you down there... What are you doing crawling around on the ground for anyway?" he asked, and Sasuke growled slightly to himself. Kakashi finally removed his foot from Sasuke's back allowing the Uchiha to push himself to his feet, dusting himself off instinctively. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she assisted Sasuke in moving out of Kakashi's path. The one eyed Jounin shrugged before walking past them.

"Shannaro," Sakura muttered, before laying a hand on Sasuke's upper back, craning her neck to see if he was all right. He averted his eyes to the ground -- that had been a failure if he'd ever seen one. "What happened, Sasuke-kun? You missed?" Sakura asked finally and Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"I don't know -- it's like he purposely slowed his walking the moment I started to jump. And then he speeded back up so he could step on me; I think he noticed us," he deduced, causing Sakura to breath out a long puff of air.

"He probably did; Kakashi-sensei is one of the best after all..." she whispered, causing Sasuke to close his eyes. This was going to be far more annoying than any mission they had been on, but at least they weren't chasing pets and picking up garbage. It was less boring, if that meant anything...

Very suddenly, a light bulb went off in Sakura's head. She extended her right index finger as she spoke, "That's it! The only ones we can ask are the students of Kakashi-sensei's one and only rival! Neji-san, Tenten-san, and Lee-san may be able to help us out!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her weird idea.

"... _If_ they would even be _willing_ to help us, you mean," he replied quietly. Sakura punched her fisted right hand into her opposing palm in determination.

"That's why we have to ask them first!"

-----

"Absolutely not."

Neji crossed his arms as he leaned back against the nearby tree, waiting as Tenten put away the remaining shuriken she had been holding, previously prepared to hurl them at her sparring partner before Sasuke and Sakura had appeared to ask of their assistance.

Rock Lee thrust his left index finger into the air, obviously ready to make an observation(which was hardly a good thing considering some of the observations he had made in the past). "I think that your determination on completing the goal you have set out to accomplish is astounding -- I will help you, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-san!" he stated. Neji threw a good, solid glare his way causing the broad browed boy to flinch slightly.

"Well, honestly, I don't see what it would hurt." Tenten inserted, causing Neji to breath a sigh of reluctance as he turned around, showing his unwillingness to be a part of their no brained scheme. "Neji?"

"You guys do what you want -- I won't get involved," he stated matter-of-factly. Tenten breathed a low sigh as she offered a smile to Sakura and Sasuke both.

"So, how can we help?" she asked. Sakura looked thoughtful for a moment before offering any kind of response, noticing that Tenten and Rock Lee both seemed interested in hearing what she had to say. Well, at least they had managed to get assistance from two of Gai's students, one of which being his prized pupil Rock Lee.

"I have another idea."

-----

The four nins had gathered atop one of the many buildings in Konoha, and they were all staring down at the throngs of people passing by. Kakashi would have to pass by eventually; after all, he couldn't make it to his destination(wherever that was) without first passing through the main square of town! It was unheard of!

Sadly, they were beginning to lose hope of any such thing happening. Kakashi was a master, and he had apparently anticipated this -- how he could've even known what they were planning was beyond the imagination of all who were involved.

But it seemed that not all was lost, as finally a familiar spiky white head walked by on the sidewalk. He was apparently just very, very slow at walking. Maybe that was the reason he was always so late, but it didn't really matter at the time. They had an objective to complete after all!

Whispering a bit, Sakura motioned to Lee and pointed down. Lee nodded and glanced back at Tenten, who then waved for Sasuke. Operation: Discover Icha Icha Part II was about to begin...

"Okay, now; we go like this -- Sakura-chan heads off the operation, by tailing Kakashi-san. Lee will try to cut off Kakashi's escape route from the left, I will try to cut off Kakashi's escape route from the right, and Sasuke will follow from up here to try and get in front of Kakashi, that way we can try to ambush him. First though, we have to get around him, so let's get started. We'll move in on Sakura-chan's signal(she'll brush her fingers through her hair). Okay, go!"

And, with that, the four dispersed, each going in their assigned direction to cut off the Jounin elite Sharingan user that possessed the mythical Icha Icha Tactics that they would reveal to the world before this night was through...

Or they would fail trying their hardest.

-----

The first part went relatively well; Sakura had managed to sneak up behind her Team 7 instructor, maintaining enough of a distance not to startle him -- as a matter of fact, he didn't seem to have noticed her at all. Next, Tenten moved in from the right, securing her position. Finally, Lee did the same from the opposite side and that only left Sasuke to make it to his destination.

Finally, when all seemed to be in place, Sakura breathed a low sigh before raising her right hand and brushing her fingers down through her short strawberry hair, alerting her three accomplices. And, they moved in from all four sides, steadily closing the distance between themselves and their target...

... Unfortunately, Gai popped up out of nowhere to stop Kakashi from moving any further and smiled as he smacked his rival on the shoulder. Kakashi raised his eye to the broad browed Jounin lazily, as Gai ushered him right out of the four's line of sight, only succeeding in causing Sakura, Tenten, and Sasuke to all crash right into each other, tripping themselves. Tenten was caught however by an invisible entity(or a Hyuuga style blur actually), that caused her eyes to widen slightly as Sasuke and Sakura both looked up from their positions on the hard concrete.

Neji quirked an eyebrow as he straightened Tenten's posture for her, before turning to look at Sasuke and Sakura pitifully. Tenten laughed somewhat nervously as she extended her tongue.

"We almost had him," she muttered. Neji sighed.

"No, you didn't. Kakashi is an excellent shinobi and he probably saw your ambush coming from a mile away. Face it, you guys are never going to succeed," he reminded. After pushing themselves both to their feet, Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a quick glance before looking at Neji. Neji glanced back and forth between them, an incredulous look on his face.

"What?"

-----

And Neji was involved.

Rock Lee had vanished after the failure of Part II(probably because of the involvement of his mentor and idol), but they now had Neji on their team! Nothing could stop them now! And so, they decided to leave the planning to the only Jounin among them since he seemed to know what he was doing...

"All right, rather than trying to stop him from reaching his destination, the plan this time is to follow him _to_ his destination; it's too early in the evening for him to be going home, so if we follow him to wherever he's going, we should be able to sneak up on him relatively unnoticed and take that damned book of his while he's not looking." Neji explained, and Sakura raised a hand. The pearl eyed nin looked over at her causing her to commence with her question.

"Um, so how do we do this?" she asked. Neji breathed a sigh and prepared his explanation of their mission arrangement.

"We're going to stand up here on this building until I'm finished first off," he said glancing over at Tenten who was staring down at the ground a good distance below them. "Now, I'll use my Byakkugan to pinpoint Kakashi's location. Next, we catch up with him but try to keep your chakra levels suppressed or he'll be able to tell that the four of us are trying to follow him. We'll have to remain a considerable distance away from each other at first to help with the illusion that no one's tailing him, but we'll all regroup when he arrives at his destination, wherever that may be. Now, I'll explain the rest of the plan after we meet back up if the rest goes well," he assigned, causing everyone to nod affirmatively.

And so, Operation: Discover Icha Icha Part III began.

-----

Everything was going well so far(just like last time); the Jounin, two Chuunin, and Sasuke had all managed to succeed at their pieces of the mission; now, they were all gathered around outside the building Kakashi had entered -- which just happened to be the Ichiraku Ramen. Inside, he met up with Kurenai for what, to any average eye, would appear to be a date. This confused and bewildered all four of them, but they determined that his reasons for being there were a bit less than important and settled for discussing the remainder of the mission. Neji prepared his voice, knowing that it was going to be a pretty long explanation, as always...

"Okay. First, Uchiha will use the Henge no Jutsu to transform into Gai. He'll get Kakashi started talking while Haruno uses the Henge no Jutsu as well to transform into Godaime-sama since she knows her fairly well. Next, the transformed Haruno will get Kurenai's attention so that she won't get in the way. But, we'll have to move fast, else Kakashi will discover Uchiha's identity since he doesn't know a lot about Gai." Neji explained, somehow managing to hold all of their attentions, "While Tenten keeps an eye on Kakashi to make sure he doesn't notice anything, I'll sneak up behind him and slip the book out of his back pocket which, according to my Byakkugan, is where its hidden. If Tenten notices anything out of the ordinary, she is to give a signal so I stop my advance(the signal will be a yawn). Any questions?"

Amazingly enough, it was Sasuke who raised a hand. Neji looked over at him. "What is it, Uchiha?"

"... Why do I have to be Gai? I don't even know much about him -- wouldn't you be better for that part of the job?" he asked. Neji seemed to think about this for a minute. He did make a valid point, but Neji pretending to be Gai? It was far too humiliating! There just no way he would do it.

"You're Gai because I say you're Gai. If I say quack, you quack. It's an order, get it?" he asked. Sasuke raised his right hand to hide his face. This was going to get annoying. "Look, just smile a lot and stick up a thumb. Try to talk philosophical nonsense. That should just about fit the requirements," he added. Sasuke breathed a low sigh before pushing away from the wall he had been leaned against. Neji nodded once. "Now, start."

After performing a couple of quick seals, Sasuke stated not quite loud enough for Kakashi inside to hear, "Henge no Jutsu!" And with an annoying poof, the Uchiha heir became a perfect copy in appearance to the annoyingly broad browed man. He plucked at one of his eyebrows as he shivered slightly. This was going to be a pain.

"Henge no Jutsu!" After performing the appropriate seals, Sakura called out the name of the jutsu as well, though again not loud enough for Kakashi or Kurenai inside to hear. And in a similar poof of smoke, she was transformed into the busty blond Hokage. She couldn't resist and poked one of her own breasts.

They were awfully bouncy, she couldn't honestly see how Tsunade could stand having them twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week... But, oh well. It was for the sake of the mission!

Tenten somehow restrained her laughter and the four all slipped into position, with Gai-Sasuke stepping into Ichiraku first.

This... was going to be a disaster.

He swallowed before throwing on one of those Nice Guy smiles(complete with sparkling teeth) and patting Kakashi on the upper back to draw his attention. "Hey, Kakashi! What's up, my old friend?" he asked, sounding far more sagely than was necessary. Outside, Neji slapped his forehead.

Kakashi seemed strangely confused by this greeting of Gai's. "You seem unusually... flamboyant today, Gai," he said, knowing that flamboyant probably wasn't the word. Gai was _always_ flamboyant, actually more than he should've been.

A bead of sweat formed on the back of Sasuke's scalp. "I'm just excited," he muttered as he sat down beside his... rival. He had to do his best to get into character, else he would never live this down. "So is something eating you? You look unusually down," he said. Kakashi shrugged and glanced over at Kurenai, who by this time was already being chatted with by Tsunade-Sakura. He quirked his visible eyebrow.

"What's the Godaime doing here?" he wondered aloud. Gai-Sasuke tapped him on the shoulder to regain his attention.

"I'm sure she's probably just getting a bite eat; she may be Hokage, but she is still a person, right?" he asked. Kakashi nodded once affirmatively. He did have a point.

A short silence pressed before Sasuke remembered his mission and began to talk again, his voiced disguised as that of Gai. Where the hell _was_ that Hyuuga bastard? He couldn't have bailed on them... "Say, Kakashi, are you two on a date?" he asked a very out of the blue question. Kakashi looked at him in that confused laziness of his.

"Huh?"

"You... and Kurenai?"

Kakashi once again cast a glance over toward the crimson eyed kunoichi before returning his eye to Gai. He seemed to think about it for a few seconds. "You... asked me that same question earlier," Kakashi said with a bewildered point at Gai-Sasuke, who mentally slapped himself. He really couldn't have cared less about getting an answer, and he had unfortunately forgotten about when Kakashi had met up with Gai several minutes earlier...

"Just making conversation you know," he said smoothly to try and fix the situation. Kakashi nodded once. "Ever since my team and I went on that mission the other day, Lee has been unusually down," he added, trying to add to the illusion. Kakashi seemed to be listening. It was true that Team Gai had gone on a mission the other day. Unfortunately, not a thing was wrong with Lee. Sasuke knew it and that was the problem...

"Why is that?" Kakashi asked. Gai-Sasuke sighed lowly.

"I think it's because of that Sakura from your team. I know I heard he accepted her rejection a few years back, but maybe he's still hung up over that, you know?" he asked, secretly pleased on the inside(it seemed Naruto and Lee had both had to suffer Sakura's rejection). Unfortunately, he was now treading boundaries that would have caused the mentioned Lee to faint. Sure, he had accepted rejection, but it certainly wasn't a subject that Gai would bring up out of basically nowhere. Kakashi shrugged.

"That Sakura. I've been trying to help her get Sasuke for a while now, but that boy has a real talent for being dense," the inventor of the Chidori(Raikiri) muttered, causing Gai-Sasuke to narrow his eyes. This conversation wasn't treading the path it should've been, not at all. "If only he would open his eyes, he would see that he has a wonderful life ahead of him. That Neji boy of yours too. They've got girls who like them and they fail to even really pay attention," he added. Sasuke grumbled under his breath, glancing off when he noticed Neji slipping in the door.

What, had Kakashi managed to see this... whatever it was that Neji and himself couldn't? Was that why the masked ninja was on a... _date_ with Yuuhi Kurenai? It was just so hard to get that through his head, he had never imagined Kakashi would find a woman -- and even at that, Kurenai was a surprise. They had never really shown much interest in each other(though, he had never shown much interest in Sakura either -- maybe that was exactly what Kakashi had been referring to).

"Maybe they've just both been preoccupied with their goals as shinobi." Gai-Sasuke responded finally, hoping for a change of subject. Kakashi shook his head.

"That may be part of it, but, they're definitely pretty blind to be a part of such prestigious clans..." the white haired man responded again, causing Sasuke to secretly wish he could drop dead. He didn't like this conversation much, it was as if Kakashi was purposely trying to anger him. But he had to keep his cool, he couldn't let that get to him...

"Well, I think I'm ready to leave," Kakashi muttered as he stood up just as Neji was reaching for his treasured manga. The Hyuuga cursed under his breath and quickly hid on the disguised Uchiha's other side, sure to keep his face hidden so Kakashi wouldn't recognize him. Sasuke clenched his teeth, he couldn't have done all that for nothing... He had just made a fool out of himself, it just couldn't be...

"Kurenai, you want to drop by the pizza parlor next?" he asked, and Kurenai smiled as she pushed herself around Tsunade-Sakura. Pizza wasn't a very common food in Konoha actually. She turned her head back around and waved a couple of times at the _Godaime_.

"It's been great talking to you!" she stated, before turning back to Kakashi. He extended an arm and she looped hers through it as they stepped out of the ramen shop, leaving dumbfounded variations of Sasuke, Sakura, Neji and Tenten. After dropping the Henge no Jutsu, Sasuke exchanged a quick glare with Neji as Sakura and Tenten discussed how it could have possibly gone wrong.

In the end, they all decided to give up for the night. It _was_ getting relatively late after all, and they all determined that it would be wrong to purposely mess up Kakashi's _date_, so they parted ways. Sasuke and Sakura headed back in the direction of the park(even though they knew Naruto was gone from there by now) while Neji and Tenten headed back in the direction of the training grounds they always used...

Still, Sasuke couldn't stop his mind from wandering back to what Kakashi had said. Maybe he really had been blind and maybe he really was dense, maybe Kakashi had been right about that. But, what could he do about it now? He couldn't suddenly start acting differently, that would probably freak out Sakura as well as himself. There had to be a much easier way to explore the possibility...

So, he stopped in his tracks, refusing to budge another inch. After noticing that one pair of footsteps had halted, Sakura paused as well and turned around to see that her teammate had stopped walking. He seemed to think about something for a minute before glancing back into town.

"Hey... Sakura?" he asked, causing her to blink her eyes in response.

"Mm hm?"

"Do you... want to get some... ice cream or something?" he inquired, causing Sakura's jaw to drop. After all of the hundreds and hundreds of times she had asked him out and he had refused, now _he_ was the one asking _her_ if she wanted ice cream? Something was definitely reversed about that. He wasn't trying to deceive her, was he?

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Sasuke asked in irritation, noticing the way Sakura was scrutinizing him. He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "If you don't want to--"

"N--No! I'd be happy to get some ice cream," she stated with a rather big smile and the hint of a blush that caused Sasuke to secretly breath a sigh of relief. He was almost concerned there for a moment that she didn't like him anymore -- what a disaster that would be! He turned back around to walk towards the ice cream parlor, a confused but very happy Sakura walking along beside him...

-----

Meanwhile, Neji and Tenten had resumed sparring as they had been doing when Sasuke and Sakura had arrived and asked for assistance. But, the part of what Kakashi had said that Neji had managed to overhear had managed to stick itself in his head like a pile of glue. The old coot had been talking about both Uchiha _and_ himself. Were they really as stupid as the old codger had made them out to be?

Noticing that Neji was... activating his Kaiten slower than usual or something, Tenten stopped tossing weapons at him and placed her hands on her hips. "Is something on your mind?" she asked suddenly, causing him to stiffen slightly. He looked from her to the weapons that had been deflected and were current scattered about on the ground. He breathed a low sigh.

"Not much," he answered. Tenten's look became more suspicious as she stepped closer.

"This isn't like you, though -- you're usually completely focused on training. Something's on your mind," she decided, causing Neji to avert his eyes to the ground.

"I've been thinking about a lot of things," he responded somewhat quietly. Tenten blinked.

"What kinds of things?" she questioned. Neji raised his eyes to her again before looking off into town. He allowed a couple of moments to pass before preparing his offer(the one his mind seemed really, really interested in proposing to his brunette friend).

"Hey, Tenten, do you want to get some ramen or something?" he asked suddenly. Tenten raised her right hand to her mouth as she giggled slightly. Neji looked almost appalled by her answer. "What did I say?"

"No, nothing. It's just that... Ichiraku would probably be a bad idea, right?" she reminded with a shrug of her shoulders. Neji thought back to the commotion that had occurred after Kakashi and Kurenai left, before sighing lowly yet again.

"You're probably right," he agreed. Several moments more of uneasy silence past before Tenten got an idea.

"Hey! What about that small cafe on the corner of town?" she suggested. Neji looked at her again, and seemed to think it over for a few seconds before shrugging and beginning to walk.

"Sure, let's go."

-----

Kakashi yawned from his seat atop the ice cream parlor that Sasuke and Sakura were in, Kurenai sitting a short distance away on that same roof. She looked over at him, her eyes soon falling to the book that was clasped ever so carefully in his hands.

"They had a couple of great ideas, but they're execution was a bit off -- I think they underestimated me a bit too." Kakashi muttered, and Kurenai curled her arms around her stomach.

"Say, Kakashi, what's in that Icha Icha manga of yours anyway?" she asked. Kakashi's visible eye twisted into what hinted at a smile as Kurenai's eyes once again declined to the book that had caused everything.

She knew at that very moment that he would probably never tell anyone what was actually in that blasted book -- and that was enough to make anyone curious. Maybe that should be her goal as a kunoichi -- to unravel that mystery and put the thought to rest... She smiled secretly. Maybe.

**---------- Epilogue ----------**

The next day picked up like usual; Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all gathered in the usual spot, ready to head off for the mission they had received from Tsunade two days earlier. Sasuke and Sakura seemed to be talking more than usual, but other than that, everything was pretty much average. Naruto smirked knowingly, unseen by his two companions.

"Well, we didn't find out what's actually in that book," Sakura whined as she plopped down in the grass beside where Sasuke was standing. He glanced at her briefly before raising his eyes to the sky.

"And we probably never will," he replied. Sakura sighed a mock depressed sigh. It didn't really matter much anymore; sure she had been curious, but it was really Kakashi's business what would forever be hidden behind those pages...

"Thank you for the ice cream, by the way." Sakura spoke casually, as if trying to make conversation. Sasuke smirked to himself.

"Hn."

"So... do you think we can go there again sometime?" she asked. Sasuke shrugged slightly. And Sakura was pleased enough with that answer; Sasuke would always be Sasuke after all, she couldn't expect him to turn into a regular ladies' man just because he had asked her out once. She did, however, take his shrug as a _yes_.

A long silence ensued which was abruptly shattered by a particular jinchuuriki boy with maybe an even more flamboyant personality than Gai or Lee...

"Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan sittin' in a--"

"Shut up!" the command came simultaneously from the two being spoke of. Naruto flinched slightly but still, his sly smile didn't fade away. Not another word was said between the three until Kakashi came walking along the sidewalk with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He actually wasn't reading!

"Kakashi-sensei! You're late!" Naruto called as he pointed an accusing finger, and Kakashi smiled under his mask as he greeted his former students. A mission lied in wait and they had to get started soon or it would be tomorrow before they would make it back to Konohagakure!

"Sorry about that; I saw this ailing old woman trying to cross the street and I couldn't just leave her, so--"

"Yep." Sakura interrupted, causing Kakashi to raise his eyebrow in confusion.

"You sure did." Sasuke added. Dead silence.

Finally, a knowing smile formed under Kakashi's mask as he passed by Sasuke to walk off in the direction of their mission(which they were still unclear as to exactly what it would entail). The Jounin paused briefly beside the raven haired boy to say only seven little words that caused Sasuke to freeze in stunned humiliation, his pride as a ninja dropping a rung on the ladder of dignity...

"Nice 'Good Guy' pose, by the way."

---------- **Owari: The End** ----------_  
_

_**Disclaimer & Copyright Information:** I do not own Naruto (© Kishimoto Masashi); however, I am the author of this story. If you have comments or suggestions, leave a review or send me an e-mail. Doumo arigatou, for reading my writing!_


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